| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Firstly, all plans including time, budget, quality, customer relations, accounting, purchasing plans and standards etc. are formed. Then, project team working at the e-government gateway project is assigned to PSP including first line first line workers as well as managers. The project team formed current business plan.
In accordance with the business plan, it was decided to make interviews with public institutions to assess the problems which government institutions were exposed to. After making meetings with government institutions, a current situation analysis has been prepared. Important questions such as “what is the problem? Where does the problem occur? What is main reason behind this problem?” are answered at current situation analysis. After revealing current situation, a strategy defined that would be utilized at problem solving process.
In compliance with the strategy; preparation, design, software, integration, authorization, authentication, implementation and monitoring phases were followed for pilot project. Taking into account of the expansion of project, the scope and content of the project are determined comprehensively. This is why it was decided to establish a platform by which MND as well as other government institutions could utilize.
Business process diagrams were drawn for PSP and necessary tasks, responsibilities and resources were defined. After making necessary definitions design stage has been launched. A web site (https://kamu.turkiye.gov.tr) was established that would interoperate between government agencies. To establish necessary authorization and authentication modules to be utilized at website, necessary software has been developed. As a final stage, integration process has been completed via virtual private networks between Turksat and MND.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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Several government institutions contributed to establishment of Integrated Public Service Platform. Turksat coordinated all stages of the initiative whereas Ministry of National Defence (MND) contributed to process regarding the relevant pilot project. Because the project has been undertaken by Turksat under the direction of Ministry of Transportation, Maritime and Communication (MOTMC), MOTMC is also an important stakeholder of the initiative.
180 universities, 384 MNDs recruitment offices, public officers of these institutions, 501000 students benefited from the pilot project just in 2012. In the following years over 75000000 people of Turkey and over 400 Public Institutions will benefit from the platform with dissemination and transformation of the project.
Hence, all Turkish people and government institutions will be the final beneficiary and stakeholder of the project in the following months. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Population and Citizenships Department, Ministry of National Education, Higher Education Board, Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkish National Police, Youth and Sport Department, The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey are just a small part of stakeholders that will be integrated to PSP.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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From preparatory stage of the project to bringing it into service, different kinds of materials have been used by Turksat and Ministry of National Defence. (MND).
At preparatory stage of the initiative, physical resources ( 50 computers, 5 routers, 3 network operating systems etc.) and non-physical sources (security systems, encryption software, database management systems etc.) have been used by MND and Turksat. Additionally, 50 software developers, 5 network experts, 10 technicians and 3 managers were involved as human resources at this stage. Although the sources used by Turksat and MND were similar mostly in quality, Turksat’s expenditures was much more than MND’s.
At deployment and management stage of the initiative, resources used by these two actors were differentiated in quality. Whereas MND’s responsibility was just keeping its database alive for sharing, Turksat was responsible for many tasks such as web site management, customer relationship management, security management etc. In this regard, Turksat born too much managerial costs such as communication, maintenance and repair etc.
Materials and equipment which were purchased for the project are utilized for some other services of Turksat. According to the protocol signed between Turksat and the Ministry of Transportation, Maritime and Communication, fixed cost of integrating one service to platform is $ 100000 and estimated average yearly cost is $ 4000. MND did not bear any cost deriving from this project because the infrastructure of this project had already been established for e-government service of MND.
The main sponsor of the project is Ministry of Transportation, Maritime and Communication (MOTMC) that is the responsible public agency for managing Global Service Fund. Financial foundation of the project derives from this Global Service Fund.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Establishment of a platform that enables transferring online secure data system among public bodies that is called Integrated Public Service Platform is the most successful output of the project. In this regard, https://kamu.turkiye.gov.tr is the concrete outcome of the project through transferring secure data among public bodies is allowed.
By utilizing the pilot project, a registration office of a university can check the military status of students by signing in to the website and querying national ID number. In following years, all government bodies will able to transfer data securely with relevant institutions, so the requirement and costs of making N2 virtual private networks between N government agencies for transferring secure data will be eliminated. Conversely, N virtual private networks between Turksat and government agencies will be adequate for transferring secure data. Instead of accessing to all database of MND, putting such a platform into service has many advantages in terms of data security and business continuity.
A user can utilize from Single Sign On (SSO) at https://kamu.turkiye.gov.tr by logging in once and gaining access to all systems without being prompted to log in again at each of them. Government bodies can authorize users to whom they will give access to relevant databases. E-government password & national ID, mobile signature or electronic signature can be used for authentication.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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To ensure business continuity, a call center called “Alo 160” is used to monitor the services within the context of the Integrated Public Service Platform and other e-government platforms. A user can use to deliver his/her complaints and follow up solutions 7/24 via call center.
Regularly, log statistics of utilized services are followed both by e-government division of Turksat and by information division of Ministry of National Defense. If an identification of abnormalities regarding the number of system log ins, inquiries or errors arises, necessary interventions can be made.
Key performance indicators have been defined to monitor overall performance of the project. These key performance indicators have been analyzed regularly by analysts. If current performance deviates from objectives, necessary actions are taken by Turksat and MOTMC.
Security test tools are also utilized to ensure system security. According to plan-do-check-act plans, necessary tests have been done by Turksat.
Quality management systems that are established at Turksat such as ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 have been also utilized to monitor progress and to evaluate the activities. By the help of acceptance of continuous improvement principle by Turksat, regulatory and preventive operations are carried out according to the results of quality management meetings.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Firstly, there have been legal problems about coordination of Public Institutions. There was no legal basis that online data sharing between government agencies could be based on. As a solution, Prime Ministry published a memorandum that made government institutions’ transition to e-government system obligatory.
Secondly, there occurred problems regarding usage of the platform. Users did not know how to use the platform. For the purpose of informing users about the platform, necessary information documents were published. Users can also use Call Center “Alo 160” to get answers to his/her questions.
Finally, some problems occurred about integration of services to the platform. By utilizing experienced staff of Turksat and necessary software this issue also solved easily.
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